


I think we're alone now

by nishiki



Series: Thistle and Weeds [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Diego is done with everyones shit, Dysfunctional Family, Family, Family Bonding, Family Drama, Family Feels, Gen, Hurt Klaus Hargreeves, Hurt/Comfort, POV Diego, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Sibling Bonding, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-07 00:56:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17950508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nishiki/pseuds/nishiki
Summary: As Diego finds his brother Klaus on the brink of death in that crappy motel room, he decides that taking care of his brother is more important than saving the world.





	I think we're alone now

**Author's Note:**

> Just to clear things up right from the start. Those speech marks: »...« are called Guillemets and are typically used in Europe in written material. Thoughts are marked in italics.

**March 2019**

 

Klaus was completely still as he lay on the sofa in the grand hall of the academy. He wasn't meant to be still and silent. He was Klaus, after all. Wasn't he meant to go up the walls and vibrate with energy? Wasn't he meant to talk their ears off with some random nonsense?  
  
Instead, he just laid there. Motionless. Pale.  
  
There was the ghost of his constant chattering echoing through the ancient halls of the academy. There was the ghost of his bubbly laugh as he had found Ben hanging from his suspenders from the chandelier once when they were ten years old.  
  
This wasn't right.  
  
»How the fuck did no one notice that he was gone?« Diego thundered, a shudder running through his body as he clenched his fists.  
  
»Oh please, would you get off your high horse already?« Five spat haughtily. Well, wasn't he the one to talk about getting off some proverbial high horse? »You didn't notice it too! Don't act holier than thou now because you were the one who found him. Klaus is Klaus, even if we would have noticed do you expect us to freak out every time the junkie gets lost again?«  
  
»We had assassins in this house almost killing us and no one thought it would be a good idea to go check on him? There was blood all over the floor of his room!« He felt like screaming but, in the end, he didn't dare to. »Maybe that fact could have raised a bit concern, huh? But you were all oh so busy with your own fucking dramas!«  
  
»Amen!« Five sneered. »The apocalypse is in three days, we don't have time for this crap now!«  
  
»Our brother almost died !« This time the words did escape him as a shout and wouldn't have Five jumped to the other side of the room, he would have actually leaped at him over the coffee table in his fury. »He was kidnapped and tortured and no one noticed that he was missing and you say that we don't have time for this now?«  
  
»The future of the entire world depends on us, Diego! No, we do not have time for fretting over the junkie ass of our useless brother. I hate to break it to you, after you always had such a soft spot for the family fuck-up, but we don't need him to prevent the apocalypse anyway.«  
  
It was because he has seen it first hand, Diego thought. It was because Five had actually seen them all dead in the rubble of this academy. It was because he had lived after the world had gone to shit for such a long time that he had grown bitter and cruel to the rest of his family. Maybe Five had just come to terms already with them being dead. Maybe he just didn't care about them anymore. They were strangers, after all. Most of them hadn't seen each other for at least ten years until the old man died - much, much longer in Five’s case. This realization had never struck him more than in the moment he looked around the hall and allowed his eyes to graze every one of his siblings - minus Vanya. Her absence had been expected after the cruel words Diego had thrown at her during the attack. He had only meant to protect her but he realized how harsh he had been.  
  
The faces of Luther and Allison as they were sitting side by side on the other sofa were stoic in a way that told Diego exactly what they were thinking now.  
  
»You can't be serious.« He heard himself mumbling. »You agree with him?«  
  
Silence was often much more of a confirmation than needed. As always, it was Luther, their beloved number one, who cleared his throat to speak. »I’m not saying that I agree with Five in regards to Klaus being useless, Diego, but-«  
  
»You know that everything that comes before ‘but’ is complete bullshit, right? For once in your life just say what you think!« Diego groaned. Allison rose from her seat and stepped around the coffee table that served as a barrier between the siblings carefully as if approaching a wild tiger.  
  
»What Luther tries to say is that Five is right. The apocalypse is in three days and we still don't know what will be causing it or how we might stop it.« She held her hands in front of her as if she felt the need to show her brother her hands to calm him. They really had to think him a loose cannon if she was so careful now. »I love Klaus just as much as you do, Diego. But Klaus always gets himself in trouble-«  
  
»He didn't get himself in trouble he was fucking kidnapped from our house, from his bedroom!«  
  
»But he is still alive so could we please move on from this now?« Five groaned from the seat he had taken on father's old armchair. Diego, however, shook his head in disbelief. It was, perhaps, the first time he wished Vanya would be here with them now. They hadn't always had the best relationship and he had said many cruel things to her recently, but he knew that she would have had his back in this at least.  
  
»Unbelievable.« Diego huffed as he walked back to the couch where he had placed their brother after returning to the academy, still dressed only in a bloody towel from the waist down. His body was littered in bruises and cuts. He was too thin but that was not new. And his face … Diego tried to avoid looking at his face.  
  
Slowly he bent down to gather Klaus in his arms once more like he had when they arrived home and lifted him off the couch. Hell, he hardly weighed anything. He was as light as Five was and Five was an actual child.  
  
»What are you doing?« Luther sighed, the annoyance about his brother’s seemingly ridiculous behavior dripping from his voice.  
  
»Getting him the help he needs since you assholes are not willing to help out your brother.«  
  
»Don't be so dramatic.« Allison huffed.  
  
»No!« Diego shot at Luther and Allison as he turned to them with one last sharp glare. »You know what? Screw you. Go and figure out that whole apocalypse mess by yourself, okay? And don't ever dare to stand in that fucking courtyard mourning over Ben again when all of this is settled because you guys have learned nothing from his death!«  
  
The truth was that the only thing that had been tying them all together even years after they had last seen each other, was their father. Now that dad was dead … They were pretty much strangers. There was no need to pretend any longer. They were not blood-related, just a mismatched bunch of kids that their father had collected from all parts of the world like rare items, bought from confused women who had been terrified by what had happened to them.  
  
When the old man died, it had felt like a relief, like chains being broken that tied him to his remaining siblings. In a way, Diego had thought that he would come to the academy one last time for the funeral and then he would be able to move on for good, leave everything behind and start a new life. But who was he kidding?  
  
The last time he had seen Klaus before the funeral was when they had been seventeen years old, thirteen years ago. Klaus had left shortly after Ben’s death. He hadn't been able to cope any longer and they had all seen it. They had all seen that he was rolling blunts under the table since they were thirteen years old, they had all seen his pupils being blown wide every day, they had seen the way his behavior changed, they had seen the dark circles under his eyes, had heard the screams at night. Ben had been the only one of them who had kept him grounded and after Ben had died, Klaus had just floated away like a kite during a thunderstorm.  
  
And still, Diego had listened to the police radio every day, scanning for information about his brother, listening with an aching heart to every news about yet another dead junkie that had been found in an alleyway and every time his heart broke at the thought that it might be his brother. Despite telling himself that he was a lone wolf and better off without his siblings, he had still kept an ear out for Klaus and for the others as well. He had read articles about Allison, had even read Vanya’s book. Maybe he started to understand her a bit better now, only days after meeting her again. Their father had been a monster and in no one was this more clear than in Vanya and Klaus. Perhaps those two had suffered the most under this man.  
  
Yet, he had allowed Klaus to fly away like this when he should have held onto him and keep him grounded. He was holding onto him now, he told himself. Someone had to.  
  
Even now Klaus was so light that he might just fly away again if he wouldn't hold onto him tightly enough as he carried him out of the hall and into the foyer. He needed Mom. Desperately. He needed her reassuring smile and her warm hands. Even though she was just a machine, she was still his mother and he needed his mother to help his little brother. What a weird thought to have. They were the exact same age and yet, for some odd reason, Diego had always thought of Klaus as his little brother. Perhaps because he always got into trouble and needed someone to help him afterward.  
  
He paused in the foyer of the house for a second and stared at the broken chandelier that was lying in the middle of the room. The house seemed so silent suddenly. He could hear his siblings talk in the hall behind him - probably about him and his erratic behavior as if his worry about his brother would be bordering on insanity. He heard the ticking of the grandfather clock on the first-floor landing and still the silence was almost eerie. Something was missing. Since Mom died, the house seemed cold and unfriendly despite the sunlight that was streaming into the hall through the huge windows overlooking the formal staircase.  
  
He wanted to leave the academy and head home - take Klaus with him if he had to. In here, no one would care about him. Their siblings wouldn't care if Klaus might die from his injuries or the fever he had developed or even the shock of withdrawal. They were numb to the pains of their other siblings. They had always been and Diego had to put blame on himself too. He had never been there for his brother, never listened when he screamed in terror at night, always allowed Ben to handle it - until Ben hadn't been there to help any longer.  
  
Benny … What would he say to them now? Would he be upset with Diego or would he have his back in this? Benny had always been the best of them.  
  
Walking through the house and up the stairs to where he knew he would find Pogo, he had never felt so alone in his life before. The house was too big and too suffocating at the same time. There was too much space and yet not enough room to hide from the ghosts of the past. And above all, their father stared down on them from his portrait as Diego was making his way to the infirmary upstairs.  
  
How many countless times had he ended up in this room after one of their ridiculous missions? How many countless times had one of the others ended up in there? He was starting to get sentimental. He blamed father's death for that. After all, he was getting old, wasn’t he?  
  
»Pogo!« Diego called out as he reached the infirmary, trusting that their old friend would be nearby and actually hear him. »I need your help! Code red!«  
  
The infirmary was deserted as Diego entered and yet he could still hear the ghosts of long forgotten sobbing and crying in this room - and of Klaus’ laughter because Klaus had always laughed. Even as Mom and Pogo had put a cast on his left arm after he fell out of a window because he had been adamant that he would be able to levitate, he had laughed about it. Klaus had always been good in getting them to laugh as well even when they had been in pain. He had been their catalyst and simultaneously the one to ease their minds.  
  
Even when they had been children, he had known that, to be a functioning team, they didn't need Luther or even him as Luther’s second in command. They had needed Klaus because he was the one holding them all together. He wasn't a fighter, never had been, his powers pretty much useless during a fight and yet he had been essential to their successes. And still, none of them had ever acknowledged that. The others had called him useless behind his back.  
  
Diego had called him useless and now his brother was on the brink of death and Diego could do nothing about it.  
  
As he laid Klaus down on the bed in the middle of the room, he already heard Pogo hobbling down the hallway and shortly after that, entering the room. »Oh my!« The ape gasped. »What happened?«  
  
»He was kidnapped.« Diego heard himself replying just as his ears picked up another sound from the hallway. Heels clicking on the wooden floor. Allison. Already he turned to the door to shout at his sister that she should rather stay outside because otherwise he wouldn't know what he would be able to do to her but just as he was opening his mouth, another figure appeared in the doorway.  
  
Mom’s smile lit up the entire room as she entered and looked at him. He felt his stomach drop before his brain could kick into gear again. »Mom?« He gasped but she only smiled and cocked her head.  
  
»Yes, Darling? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.«  
  
Diego's eyes darted over to Pogo and they shared a small glance that spoke volumes. We talk later, the look Pogo gave him said and Diego swallowed the questions that were burning on the back of his tongue.  
  
»Oh no« Mom suddenly exclaimed and rushed past Diego as quickly as her high heels allowed her to. »Oh, sweet little bumblebee, what happened to you, Baby?«  
  
»He needs your help, Mom.« Diego said as he finally found his voice again only after clearing his throat. Seeing Mom up on her feet again, seemingly back to normal ... He didn't know how to feel about that, didn't know what to make of it or how to behave now. Focus, he urged himself. Focus, Diego.  
  
He helped Mom and Pogo clean up the blood from Klaus’ body after they had gotten rid of that bloody towel around his narrow hips. All the while, Diego still avoided looking at his brother’s pale face. Maybe under different circumstances, he would have tried to preserve Klaus’ modesty a little more but then again it was Klaus and the craziest of the seven siblings had run around the house naked on more than one occasion in some alcohol or drug-induced rush. There was nothing that they hadn't all seen already on him. Except for the fresh cuts and bruises littering his entire body.  
  
Diego had always been one to work with his hands. Working with his hands helped him to get his mind off of things. He could blank out while he washed his brother with a cloth, he could forget that Klaus was lying on this bed, bleeding, beaten and broken while he wrung out the cloth in a small bowl and colored the water red.  
  
He was back at the motel as he worked on Klaus. He was storming up those stairs again after Eudora’s message had reached him with much delay. He remembered seeing her in the motel’s office but instead of talking to her, he had just rushed past the office and up the stairs, driven only by the sinking feeling in his stomach. Hell, if it hadn't been for Eudora, though, he might have died - and Klaus too.  
  
As it was his modus operandi most of the days, he had been ready to just storm into every single room, bursting through closed wooden doors like the human equivalent of a wrecking ball. It wouldn't have been the first time and certainly would not have been the last time either. Eudora, however, by some cosmic miracle, had caught him right in time before he could have burst through the door that hid Klaus.  
  
When they had found him, he had been hidden in the closet of the motel room, barely conscious and tied to a chair with duct tape and his mouth- His mouth... He had been very much discarded in the closet like some old vacuum cleaner with his captors nowhere in sight. First, Diego had been certain that they were just hiding in the bathroom and were trying to fool them in any way but then it had become pretty clear that they had actually abandoned the motel room and had left his brother for dead in this closet. The message was clear. They had sewn his mouth shut with a thick thread that seemed black from the blood it was soaked in. He would have died all by himself in that closet had Diego not found him. Those monsters hadn't even found the mercy to give him a quick and decent death. They had wanted him to suffer.  
  
Whatever they had wanted from Klaus, he hadn't given it to them.  
  
Getting him back home after this had been easy. When they had found him, Klaus had been barely clinging to consciousness and so he had passed out the second that they had cut the tape. Maybe it was better this way.  
  
»Careful now…« Mom smiled as he took the scalpel from the tray by the side of the bed. His fingers were trembling as he picked up the knife. They shouldn't be trembling when picking up a knife. Any knife. Still, the trembling got only worse as he brought the sharp blade to his brother’s mouth. Mom gently took it from him at that.  
  
»Darling why don't you go downstairs and get your brother something nice and cozy to wear, huh?« She rubbed his arm as she spoke and never had Diego missed that gesture more than in the past two days when she was dead. He nodded without looking at his brother again. Klaus was blissfully still unconscious and so Diego hurried out of the room. He didn't want to be there to see how his mother cut the thread that held his mouth closed. This was way worse than the time when Klaus had broken his jaw and had to have it wired shut. And yet he didn't want to leave him alone for too long. He didn't want him to wake up and not be there.  
  
»Diego!« Allison. Of course. His sister had always had the talent of finding him when he needed it the least. She had always been a pest in a way.  
  
He walked past her as they met on the first-floor landing of the formal staircase. »I don't have time for you, Allison.« He snarled. »I know you don't hear that often but the world does not revolve around you!«  
  
As he was hurrying downstairs, she was hot on his trail and he had expected nothing less from her. Allison never knew when to back off. She had never learned the meaning of the word no, after all. It was probably unfair to blame her for that, though. »Diego, wait!«  
  
»If you want to say something, do it while I’m getting clothes for our brother.« He shot over his shoulder. »You know? Our brother who almost died? Then again … as if you would care. You never cared about anyone but Luther, right? And in Luther’s eyes, we were all better off without Klaus anyway.«  
  
»That's not true and you know that!« This time she actually grabbed his elbow and would have made him fall down the rest of the staircase if he wouldn't have stopped to look at her at this. »Luther loves Klaus like he loves the rest of us. We all love Klaus, Diego. What you’re saying is unfair!«  
  
»Oh, is it?« Diego hissed. »If Luther loves Klaus so much then I wonder why he ratted him out to dad back in the day!«  
  
»What do you mean?«  
  
»He never told you, huh?« The laugh that escaped him was humorless and quiet. »Oh, that's rich, Luther! Mr. Perfect … When we were seventeen, Klaus almost died from an overdose. Luther and I found him in the bathroom and Mom saved him. We could have kept this silent and under wraps, because dad was on one of his secret field trips somewhere in Egypt but Luther went straight to dad and told him about Klaus and his drug problem.«  
  
»Well, wouldn't you have told dad that one of his sons is in mortal danger and a drug addict?«  
  
»No!« He exploded. »No, I wouldn't have because dad didn't care before why should he care then? He knew about it! We all knew about it and chose not to say something! But being confronted about it by Luther, the old man had to act to save face in front of us and he did what he always did! The moment dad came back from his trip he told Klaus that he would lock him in somewhere and made him go through a cold turkey. The moment he came back from his trip he argued with him like he always did. That, dear sister, was the day Klaus ran away and never came back for thirteen years!«  
  
»But that was his decision!«  
  
»You know what, Allison? You and Luther, you just fit perfectly together. You are both so perfect, right? You ever stopped to wonder why Klaus is using drugs? No, of course not because you don't care. At least I can admit that I have been wrong in the past. At least I can admit that I didn't care enough for my brother to actually help him. But neither you nor Luther nor Vanya listened to the police radio every day in fear to hear that our brother was found dead! And now, if you’d excuse me, I go and take care of my brother. We might not be able to stop the apocalypse, but that's at least something that I can do.«  
  
With that Allison let go of his arm and allowed him to walk down the stairs. Diego made his way downstairs to their bedrooms in no time and instead of heading to Klaus’ room, he went straight to his own room. His room looked more like a cell than anything else. He had never quite made a home for himself out of this tiny chamber unlike his other siblings had. He had been a soldier from birth and had decided to live like one as well, apparently.  
  
At least he quickly found what he had been looking for in his dresser. An old pair of sweatpants that he had last worn shortly before he moved out to go to the police academy, a simple shirt and a zip-up hoodie that should fit his brother. He remembered when Klaus had hit his growth spurt. He had been the first to do so after Luther and, much to Luther’s dismay, had grown taller than their number one very quickly - even though just for a short time. At the tender age of fourteen, Klaus had been the human equivalent of a bean pole. Diego had been furious as Klaus had suddenly become taller than he and Klaus had relentlessly teased him about it. One year later, they had been at eye-level once more.  
  
»You always took such good care of your siblings.« His mother praised as he returned with the clothes. The thread was gone and had left only the puncture wounds around Klaus’ mouth as a gruesome reminder of what those lunatics had done to him. His mother was still wiping the blood off his face. »Always looking out for them.« She smiled before she threw the bloody cloth away and brushed her fingers over Diego’s cheek instead. »Pogo gave him something to keep him under for a little while but … his condition is serious, Diego. We don’t know if he’ll pull through. If you would dress your brother, I would start preparing dinner now.«  
  
Dinner. She acted as if everything was just normal even though the situation couldn't be any further from normal. As if one of her sons was not on the brink of death. Diego had helped to sew the worst of his wounds shut and to wrap almost his entire body in bandages. They had beaten him to an inch of his life, had burned him all over his body with what looked like cigarettes, cut him up and slammed his forehead against some hard surface. And yet Mom acted as if all of this was just a regular day at the academy.  
  
»Sure, Mom.«  
  
»Always such a good boy, Pumpkin.«  
  
The smile came involuntarily at the little nickname his mother had given him when he had been a child. He had always been a mama’s boy and he had never been ashamed of that fact. His other siblings though … Sometimes he wondered if they ever saw more in Grace than a machine.  
  
He remembered Klaus holding onto her for dear life after one of his night terrors and had been crying in her lap, he remembered Ben baking cookies with her. He remembered Mom calling Ben Muffin in the past. Klaus, however, had always been her little bumblebee even before she had named each one of them. _He is always buzzing with activity like a little bee_ , she had explained when Diego had asked her about that nickname. Their siblings had quickly added that he was more like a fat little bee that was so loud that it was impossible to ignore.  
  
Klaus had never cared much about those snide comments from his siblings. His face had lit up when Mom called him that.  
  
When he was left alone with Klaus in that room again, he found himself paralyzed for a moment, just looking at his brother’s still frame on this bed. He wasn't meant to be silent. He was mom’s little bumblebee, always buzzing with activity, always laughing.  
  
There was a knock on the door behind him and he knew who it was even before he turned his head to look at his brother Luther. »Go away, Luther.« He groaned as he stepped closer to the bed to start getting their brother dressed. He didn't wish Allison to happen upon a stark naked Klaus. Not that any one of them would truly care.  
  
»Diego« Oh, he knew that tone of voice. It was the same one their father had used on them when he had been especially disappointed with his children. »Can we talk?«  
  
»No, we can’t.« Diego huffed as he turned his attention from their brother to Luther. »I have said everything I had to say. Go back to Three and Five and save the world.«  
  
They were at a stalemate. For a moment they just stared at each other, both not budging, both too stubborn to cave in. Diego was the first to look away. He had a job to do, after all. Klaus was certainly cold and the fever he was developing was concerning. He returned to his task at hand and started with the pants. Carefully, he lifted Klaus’ left foot to push it through the leg of the sweatpants only to have his movement mirrored on the other side of the bed as Luther took hold of Klaus’ other ankle to do the same thing.  
  
They didn't speak as they pulled up his pants. Diego didn't say thank you as Luther helped to lift Klaus up enough to pull the pants over his skinny ass or as he helped him to pull the shirt over Klaus’ curly head. They didn't speak as they shoved his thin arms through the sleeves off Diego’s hoodie or as they laid him down on the bed again. Suddenly, they were back in the bathroom thirteen years ago with their brother hanging lifelessly over the toilet seat, the stench of vomit in the air and the needle still lying on the tiles next to Klaus.  
  
They were back to pushing down on Klaus’ chest, back to forcing breath into his lungs despite the vomit clinging to his mouth. Diego still remembered the taste. He hadn't cared at the moment and he wouldn't care now too if it were to happen again. That was the thing when you have siblings. You don't care for such stuff in the hour of need.  
  
They were back to running frantically through the academy, Klaus hanging on Luther's arms like dead. They were back to calling for Mom to help their brother and save him because they hadn't been able to save Ben and this truth had been gnawing on the both of them ever since the day Ben had died so violently.  
  
At that moment, thirteen years ago, Luther and he had not been at odds for once. They had been terrified out of their minds, terrified of losing yet another one of their siblings after they had already lost Five and Ben and had been powerless to do anything about that. They should have been able to save them. After all, they were number one and two, the eldest of the seven siblings in a sense. They should have protected their siblings and yet they had lost two of them and had been on the best way to lose the third one.  
  
In a way, he understood why Luther had told their father about the drugs and the overdose. In a way, Luther had just wanted to help, just wanted to save Klaus and make sure that they would never find their brother like this again. While Diego had listened to the radio every day in fear of hearing of yet another dead junkie thinking it might be Klaus, Luther had actually tried to do something so that this would never happen.  
  
»You were right.« Luther muttered after a long moment of silence between them now that their brother was dressed and warm just as Diego was walking over to the sink to soak another rag in cold water to place it on Klaus’ forehead. Their brother was burning up from the inside. He had felt it clearly as they had propped him up against Diego and his forehead rested against Diego’s collarbone. Withdrawal and the aftermath of torture. That Klaus was still alive seemed a miracle. Almost Diego dropped the cloth in his hands at Luther’s words.  
  
»What?«  
  
»You were right.« Luther repeated. He had taken a seat next to the bed after dragging a crappy wooden chair over to it and held one of Klaus’ thin hands in his left paw.  Klaus looked tiny next to their giant of a brother. People always said that Vanya was the runt of the family. She was small and petite, barely as tall as Five was - and Five was in a way still a kid. Vanya, however, though socially awkward and quiet, was strong in a way that Klaus wasn't. She could stand up for herself while Klaus retreated into his shell. Whenever he was embarrassed or sad or heartbroken or hurt, Klaus had put up this facade of humor that used to fool all of them.  
  
»Our brother was kidnapped and we didn't even notice it until it was too late. He was kidnapped while we fought with those lunatics and we didn't notice or thought to check up on him after that fight. They could have killed him right here in this house and we wouldn't have noticed. I always say that I am the leader of this team, that I am number one but if this would be the case, I would have noticed it sooner. Had your friend not left this message for you … We wouldn't have noticed it. We- I would have thought that Klaus had left us again to do his own thing, to get high somewhere and do whatever he did in the last thirteen years. I didn't care and I haven’t cared since he left home. I never went out looking for him after he ran away as you did. And I have no excuse for that.«  
  
»You were on the moon.«  
  
»But only for the last four years. What about the other nine years that I could have spent looking for my brother? Instead, I never left this house and did what father told me to do. Instead, of being a good brother and leader, I decided to be a good soldier and only follow father’s orders. Father told me not to waste my time looking for Klaus and so I didn't. Father told me not to waste my time checking up on Vanya and so I didn't. This has to stop now, Diego. We are a family. Maybe not by blood but we are all that we have left now and we need to stick together. Not just to save the world. We have to get Vanya too.«  
  
»Vanya is a liability.« And it hurt to say this. Despite his anger towards her, she was still his sister and he still loved her as he still loved Luther and Allison and Five and Ben and even that junkie on this bed who always hitched a ride with him and drove him insane. When Klaus would be on his feet again, Diego would teach him how to drive. It was time his brother learned how to do that.  
  
»She might not have powers but she is still our sister.« Luther sighed as Diego finally walked over to place the wet cloth on Klaus’ forehead. »And I am tired of excluding anyone from this family. I am not dad. I realize now the mistakes that I made. I should have been there for Klaus when he needed me the most. I shouldn't have ratted him out to dad because I knew what would happen. Klaus could have died on the streets and none of us could have done anything about it and it would have been my fault. I wasn't a very good leader or brother. This has to change now.«  
  
»And how are we going to do that?« He sighed and brushed his fingers through Klaus’ curls. It was something he had always done even when they were little and Klaus had been upset or hurt in any way - which had been rare. Klaus had always been the goofball of the family. Always been bubbly and full of laughter. Their little bumblebee, the kite that had been ripped from them in a stormy night because Diego hadn't held onto him tightly enough.  
  
»Dinner.« Luther smiled. »Let's start with dinner.«  
  
As the next morning came, sunlight flickered through the large windows of the hall and Sir Reginald Hargreeves stared down on his sleeping children from his bullet-riddled portrait as he had stared down on them in life - cold and unflinching. Diego was the first to wake up. His neck hurt and his back ached. He had fallen asleep sitting on the ground by the huge old sofa on which they had placed Klaus last night. Two empty bottles of father’s best red wine explained the headache he was suffering as he looked around the hall.  
  
Allison had fallen asleep on the other couch with Vanya, her head resting on her sister’s. Luther lay sprawled out on the expensive carpet next to a huge wine stain as he had tipped over his glass somewhere along the lines. Five slept soundly curled up in father’s old armchair, the third bottle of wine still clutched to his chest. After dinner, they had decided to sit together and since Diego had felt uneasy at the thought of leaving Klaus to his own devices in the infirmary they had brought him downstairs with them.  
  
Mom’s words had haunted him all through dinner. _We don't know if he’ll pull through._ Diego had wanted to keep an eye on their brother and to be there if Klaus truly wouldn't make it. He hadn't said it to his siblings but he had wanted to make sure that, if Klaus decided to die on them, he would do so surrounded by the people who loved him the most.  
  
It was the first night all the siblings had been together again, not fighting and arguing, not on a mission. Just them, as a family, enjoying each others company, sharing stories and catching up while watching over Klaus.  
  
Vanya had told them about her work and the students she would teach at her apartment. She had told them about that weird Leonard-guy who came to her to learn how to play the violin and how uneasy he made her feel. Allison had told them about her daughter and shown them her pictures. None of them had ever met their niece yet. She had confessed how much she had fucked everything up with her powers and how she had sworn to never use them again.  
  
Five had told them about the future and how fucked everything had been, about his work for that time travel agency. Their brother had quite the stories to tell. Luther had talked about the moon and how peaceful everything had been up there and how incredibly lonely too. After his third glass of wine, Luther had told them how much he had missed all of them up there. And Diego had told them about the police academy and how he failed to become a proper cop because his temperament had always gotten in the way. He told them about his vigilante work and how he kept an ear out for the rest of his siblings.  
  
For once, no talk about the apocalypse. No finger-pointing. They had laughed and exchanged stories of the past, remembered the few good things they had experienced in these ancient halls. Most of them, Diego came to realize, had involved Klaus as the central part. Klaus had always been the glue that had held them together through his humor and laugh. And Klaus had bought them back together now as well. Next time, Diego thought, he shouldn't have to almost die for them to come together again.  
  
»Waffles…« A voice behind him muttered and Diego almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of the raspy voice. As he turned his head and flinched over the ache in his neck, he found Klaus’ green eyes barely open. »I smell waffles.«


End file.
